Protection with tetrahydropyranyl ether

Corey and Yamamoto 233) used the P-oxido synthesis 2341 of trisubstituted olefins for the preparation of the acyclic sesquiterpene famesol 433. In this preparation the isoheptenylphosphonium salt 430 is converted into the hydroxyfamesol derivative 432 by reaction with the tetrahydropyranyl ether — protected hydroxy aldehyde 431 and formaldehyde 205. 432 is converted into famesol 433 via several steps. Other reactions of432 likewise proceeding via several steps lead to 434 which is a positional isomer of a C17-juvenile hormone 233) (Scheme 75). 

On reaction of lithium dimethylcuprate with a vinylic halide which also contained a tetrahydropyranyl ether-protected allylic alcohol function (152), the product of coupling, (XVI), was obtained in poor yield (30%) and was accompanied by a 60% total yield of three other compounds [Eq. (103)]. The most significant of these represent products arising from the splitting off of the THP group, perhaps because of its allylic nature, by attack of the dimethylcuprate species and by an intermediate copper(III) compound on (XVI) or its precursor. 

A similar displacement reaction can be conducted for acetylenic carbinol compounds by protecting the active hydroxyl group as tetrahydropyranyl ether or with addition of 2 Eq of ethylmagnesium bromide [Eq. (15) 17]. However, this reaction is often very slow... 

Tetrahydropyranyl ethers. Protection of alcohols by reaction with dihydropyran is promoted by LiBp4 in MeCN. 

Six protective groups for alcohols, which may be removed successively and selectively, have been listed by E.J. Corey (1972B). A hypothetical hexahydroxy compound with hydroxy groups 1 to 6 protected as (1) acetate, (2) 2,2,2-trichloroethyl carbonate, (3) benzyl ether, (4) dimethyl-t-butylsilyl ether, (5) 2-tetrahydropyranyl ether, and (6) methyl ether may be unmasked in that order by the reagents (1) KjCO, or NH, in CHjOH, (2) Zn in CHjOH or AcOH, (3) over Pd, (4) F", (5) wet acetic acid, and (6) BBrj. The groups may also be exposed to the same reagents in the order A 5, 2, 1, 3, 6. The (4-methoxyphenyl)methyl group (=MPM = p-methoxybenzyl, PMB) can be oxidized to a benzaldehyde derivative and thereby be removed at room temperature under neutral conditions (Y- Oikawa, 1982 R. Johansson, 1984 T. Fukuyama, 1985). 

In the latter case, one end of the glycol is protected as its tetrahydropyranyl ether. Upon hydrolysis, a two-armed crown is revealed which may then be treated with the bis-crown precursor identified above. The result will be a tris-crown system and the approach is illustrated below in Eq. (3.35). 

The principal variations on the normal crown synthesis methods were applied in preparing mixed crowns such as those shown in Eq. (3.55) and in forming isomers of the dibinaphthyl-22-crown-6 systems. The latter has been discussed in Sect. 3.5 (see Eq. 3.21) . The binaphthyl unit was prepared to receive a non-naphthyl unit as shown in Eq. (3.57). Binaphthol was allowed to react with the tetrahydropyranyl ether or 2-chloroethoxyethanol. Cleavage of the THP protecting group followed by tosyla-tion of the free hydroxyl afforded a two-armed binaphthyl unit which could serve as an electrophile in the cyclization with catechol. Obviously, the reaction could be accomplished in the opposite direction, beginning with catechol". ... 

Many functional groups are stable to alkaline hydrogen peroxide. Acetate esters are usually hydrolyzed under the reaction conditions although methods have been developed to prevent hydrolysis.For the preparation of the 4,5-oxiranes of desoxycorticosterone, hydrocortisone, and cortisone, the alkali-sensitive ketol side chains must be protected with a base-resistant group, e.g., the tetrahydropyranyl ether or the ethylene ketal derivative. Sodium carbonate has been used successfully as a base with unprotected ketol side chains, but it should be noted that some ketols are sensitive to sodium carbonate in the absence of hydrogen peroxide. The spiroketal side chain of the sapogenins is stable to the basic reaction conditions. 

Reaction of 25 with dihydropyran serves to protect the hydroxyls by converting these to the tetrahydropyranyl ethers (THP). Reduction of the lactone thus protected with diisobutyl... 

The tetrahydropyranyl group, commonly used in synthetic procedures to protect hydroxyl groups, appears not to be safe when peroxidising reagents are used with tetrahydropyranyl ether derivatives, because explosive peroxides, not destroyed by the usual reagents, are produced. 

The analogue in which carbon replaces oxygen in the enol ring should of course avoid the stability problem. The synthesis of this compound initially follows a scheme similar to that pioneered by the Corey group. Thus, acylation of the ester (7-2) with the anion from trimethyl phosphonate yields the activated phosphonate (7-3). Reaction of the yhde from that intermediate with the lactone (7-4) leads to a compound (7-5) that incorporates the lower side chain of natural prostaglandins. This is then taken on to lactone (7-6) by sequential reduction by means of zinc borohydride, removal of the biphenyl ester by saponification, and protection of the hydroxyl groups as tetrahydropyranyl ethers. 

Under acidic conditions, dihydropyran will undergo additions with alcohols at room temperature to form 2-tetrahydropyranyl ethers (equation 247).398 This reaction constitutes an important method for the protection of primary and secondary alcohols.400... 

The conventional vinylidene complex could be isolated when the hydroxyl group was protected as the tetrahydropyranyl ether derivative reaction of this with acid immediately gave the cyclic carbene complex, even under mild conditions. The reaction is related to the formation of similar nickel(II)- and platinum(IV)-carbene complexes from the [Pg.71]

A 1,2-hydride shift has been invoked399 to account for the formation of p-methoxyphenylbutyraldehyde derivatives (337) during the treatment of />methoxy-benzyl-protected allylic alcohols (336) with zeolites. A similar C-glycosidation procedure involving Lewis acid-catalysed anomeric oxygen to carbon rearrangement of tetrahydropyranyl ether derivatives has been reported400 (see Scheme 82). It has been... 

Benzylic ethers (Ph CH2 OR), allylic ethers (R-CH=CH-CH2 OR) and vinylic ethers [R CH=CH(OR)] together with the most commonly encountered tetrahydropyranyl ethers [THP-ethers, (5)] and /J-methoxyethoxymethyl ethers [MEM-ethers, R0CH2 0(CH2)2 0CH3] play an important role in the protection of a hydroxyl group (p. 550). Macrocyclic ethers (the crown ethers) are important phase transfer catalysts [e.g. 18-Crown-6 (6)]. 

In a different sequence of reactions, N-acetylation of 274 and exposure of the intermediate imide 275 to ethanolic KOH gave a mixture (about 2 1) of the desired carboxylic acid 276 together with the starting lactam 274 via the non-selective hydrolysis of the imide moiety of 275 (148a,c). When 276 was treated with /V-bromosuccinimide (NBS), an intermediate bromolactone was produced which was heated at reflux in pyridine in the presence of DBU to give 277. The conversion of the lactone 277 to the lactam 278 was effected by heating 277 in aqueous NaOH followed by protection of the resulting allylic alcohol function as a tetrahydropyranyl ether. 

One method that has found widespread use for the protection of an alcohol is reaction with dihydropyran to form a tetrahydropyranyl ether. Once the desired reaction has been accomplished, the protecting group can be removed by treatment with aqueous acid or acid and ethanol. The formation of a tetrahydropyranyl ether and its cleavage are illustrated in the following equation ... 

The mechanism of the formation of the tetrahydropyranyl ether (see Figure 23.1) is an acid-catalyzed addition of the alcohol to the double bond of the dihydropyran and is quite similar to the acid-catalyzed hydration of an alkene described in Section 11.3. Dihydropyran is especially reactive toward such an addition because the oxygen helps stabilize the carbocation that is initially produced in the reaction. The tetrahydropyranyl ether is inert toward bases and nucleophiles and serves to protect the alcohol from reagents with these properties. Although normal ethers are difficult to cleave, a tetrahydropyranyl ether is actually an acetal, and as such, it is readily cleaved under acidic conditions. (The mechanism for this cleavage is the reverse of that for acetal formation, shown in Figure 18.5 on page 776.)... 

A similar reaction occurs when enol ethers react with alcohols in acid solution and in the absence of water, but now we are starting in the middle of the acetal hydrolysis mechanism and going the other way, in the direction of the acetal A useful example is the formation of THP (= TetraHydroPyranyl) derivatives of alcohols from the enol ether dihydropyran. You will see THP derivatives of alcohols being used as protecting groups in Chapter 24. 

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